Two jazz colossi towered over the last weekend of the London jazz festival. Weather Report founder Joe Zawinul died in September, but the final-night gig he was due to lead stayed in the schedule as a tribute. Django Bates played his heart out in Zawinul's keyboard seat, as if determined to reach him out there somewhere.

The other giant was Sonny Rollins, who had made a quiet start to his Saturday Barbican concert with In a Sentimental Mood, but soon broke out into his characteristic double-time fusillades, with their skidding phrases, fragmented reminders of the tune and imperious forward movement. He subjected the calypso Nice Lady to a stream of braying sounds and blurted lyricism, and was tender on an unexpected visit to the wartime hit There'll Be Bluebirds Over the White Cliffs of Dover.

Rollins's improvisational marathons are what his enduring genius is all about, but he measured his 77 years against the wisdom of an encore, and came out at the end to blow kisses. The audience understood.

Django Bates and a fiery rhythm section (including former Joe Zawinul bassist Victor Bailey and locals Martin France on drums and John Parricelli on guitar) appeared on Sunday with the BBC Big Band and music from Zawinul's last album, Brown Street. Bates caught the signature sound, but his tribute was appropriately personal. Earlier, in a Scottish jazz showcase, saxophonist Julian Arguelles - Bates's old Loose Tubes partner - and composer and guitarist Kevin Mackenzie had hypnotised a small crowd on the Free Stage with the stunning reverie Laurie's Waltz.

· The Joe Zawinul tribute is broadcast on Radio 3's Jazz Lineup on December 8.